My Daughter Wants To Be A Part Of The Dora Milaje…

As per the article’s title, you have already guessed it by now, this is going to be an ode to Marvel cinematic universe 2018 release Black Panther. After CIVIL WAR – The Film, it’s without a doubt that Black Panther was the real deal and you just couldn’t wait to know more about the guy. And you know what, the cherry on top is that they decided to show a riveting exterior shot of Wakanda’s enormous panther statue…whoa!!

Imagine this thing greeting you while you enter the gates like St. Peter or better yet The Argonath on the sides of River Anduin or it is just at the background hovering over the villages like Christ the Redeemer. Oh the thoughts are endless but one thing I knew coming out of the theater is I can’t wait for Black Panther.

The Wakanda

Wakanda, officially known as The Kingdom of Wakanda, is a fictional African Nation in North East Africa that is now ruled by T’Challa after his father – King T’Chaka – was assassinated in Captain America: Civil War.

This is the most technological, socially and economically advanced nation in the world and its because of its main natural resource, Vibranium. It is believed that in the distant past a meteorite containing the sound absorbing mineral vibranium crashed in Wakanda.

One of the tribes believing it’s a gift from the gods decided to mine it and forge it into weapons. However, the radiation from the meteorite had a side effect on some of the tribes-men turning them into evil spirits.

Bashenga – The Mightiest warrior at the time, prayed to the Panther god to give him strength and resilience to defeat the evil spirit thus becoming the first Black Panther. He went on to unite all the tribes to form the formidable nation of Wakanda.

Vibranium with its energy manipulating capabilities sold at a whopping $10,000 per gram has turned Wakanda into one of the most stable nations on the planet. The Wakandas sacred mound is estimated to contain about 10,000 tons of the material. This has been used to craft items like Captain America’s shield, Wolverine’s spine, Black Panther’s costume even part of Avengers tower.

In addition to this, they also possess major resources that include uranium, coal, diamonds, aeronautics and aircraft manufacture just to name a few.

Enters the Dora Milage

This is my daughter’s new obsession apparently. Historically, superhero films have always left out women. This year, however, that has changed and oh isn’t the turning point of marvel? Wonder Woman has broken box office records for comic book movies with its bad-ass unit of female warriors: The Amazons. Marvel is now following suit with the much-anticipated Black Panther Movie.

The Dora Milage [The Adored Ones] is an elite, all-female, highly skilled and lethal squad of master bodyguards assigned to protect the Wakandan Throne and its King – The Black Panther.

They are a very powerful force. They are not utopic, their strength is to preserve Wakanda. They are more like the secret service in a sense that it’s just not military. They were introduced first in Captain America: Civil War via Ayo [Florence Karumba] a head of Intel assigned to protect T’Challa [Chadwick Boseman] on his maiden journey to Vienna.

Ayo’s attitude where she tells Natasha Romanoff [Scarlett Johansson] better known as Black Widow an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D to “Move. Or you’ll be Moved” showed viewers what to expect of these women and that they are not to be messed with.

From the trailers Ryan Coogler – Black Panther Director has shown that these deadly female combatants have played a key role in the film and will most surely appear in the sequels too.

My daughter’s fascination with the Dora Milage, as opposed to the Amazons, is interesting as they kind of remind me of a concept borrowed from the African woman and even Black women in the diaspora. They tend to move in sync more than other women.

When they move they are a unit, lined up bodies and arms swaying in synch, their eyes drifting as they walk by you. If my daughter can aspire to be a part of anything, then an elite serious, but also have an unexpected sense of humor, has heart for both her country and people, female bad-asses is what I would want her to be.

Bridgette is an online freelance writer, an avid Hip-hop head, lover of books, arts and crazy about pancakes on a Sunday morning. Married and a mother to a bouncy daughter, she's a big believer in freedom of expression,destiny and a closet binge-watcher of cheesy romantic flicks.